Angličtina - Holidays

Autor: Autor neznámý

During the year, we celebrate many feasts. These feasts are different in various countries. So, first I will speak about feasts in Britain. On January the 1st, people in Great Britain celebrate the New Year´s Day. On February the 14th is the Valentine´s Day. It´s the lovers´ day. On this day, young people send Valentine cards to a person of opposite sex. Their cards are funny and have contents such as "I´ll be your sweetheart and I´ll be your Valentine". On April the 1st, it is the All fool´s Day. On this day, people make respectively some jokes. In April is also Easter holiday. It is a spring feast of  Christian Church. Good Friday commemorates Jesus´s crucifixion; while Easter Sunday commerorates the resurrection of Jesus. This feast is celebrated on Easter Sunday in Britain. On April the 23rd,  St. George´s Day is celebrated. St. George is the saint patron of England. The Second Sunday on May is the Mother´s Day. On this day, all mothers are honoured. A very famous feast "Halloween" is celebrated on the 31st of October. On this day, the Old Celts celebrated the end of autumn and the beginning of winter. In Britain, nowadays is this day  celebrated  only in the North of England and in Scotland, but it is generally celebrated in USA and Canada. Children celebrated it by dressing up in Halloween costumes with masks over their faces. Carrying baskets or bags, they go to their friends´ houses and knock on the door. When people come to the door, the children say "Trick or treat" which means "Give us a treat or we will play a trick on you". The people treat the children with sweets, fruit or money. The most common trick is soaping the windows of houses and cars. On the 11st of November is the Remeber Day. On this day people honour the London soldiers killed in the two world Wars by two minutes of silence. I think that the most famous feast of the year is Christmas. This feast is connected to the birth of Jesus in Jerusalem. In it´s honour,  we celebrate Christmas as a day of well-being and peace in the world. In Britain, on the Christmas Eve, children hang up Christmas stocking at the end of their beds and believe that Santa Claus fills their stockings with presents and toys. But the most festive day of Christmas is the 25th of December. On this day, the dinner consist of turkey and roasted potatoes.  The dessert is a special pudding made of eggs, sweets and so on. There are also some coins hidden in the pudding. The 26th of December is called The Boxing Day from the custom (in earlier times) of giving the postmen, milkmen, dustmen or newspaperboys smalls sums of money, which had been collected in their Christmas boxes. On the 31st of December, English people stay usually awake till midnight to see the old year out and dring a toast to celebrate the New Year.
In the United states, people celebrate the samel feasts as in Great Britain. From the others holidays, I can name The President´s Day on the 3rd Monday in February or the Day of Independence on July the 4th . Each city has it´s own ceremony and parades, band concerts and firework displays in the evening. This day commemorates the signing of Declaration of Independence in 1776. On October the12th the Columbus Day is celebrated. A special Americans feast is the Thanksgiving Day, celebrated on the 4th Thursday in November. This feast was celebrated first in 1621 by the Pilgrim settlers of Plymouth colony on their first harvest. It is celebrated by a traditional dinner while the main course is a roasted turkey.